Courtesy of GoLeopards.com
BALTIMORE, Md. – Head coach Fran O’Hanlon of the Lafayette men’s basketball team registered his 300th career victory in Baltimore, Md. on Monday evening as the Leopards pulled off a 78-69 win in their Patriot League road opener.
O’Hanlon, the Patriot League’s all-time winningest coach, moves his career mark to 300-340 with all 640 games with the Maroon and White. Additionally, he owns Patriot League records for games coached (640) and league games coached (298).
The win was the first for Lafayette in the Patriot League campaign and improves its overall record to 5-8 and 1-1 in conference action. The victory also marked the first game Loyola has lost at home this season.
Senior captain Nick Lindner came through late with the shot that would eventually seal the game for Lafayette. With the clock winding down under the 30-second mark and the Leopards up by two, the senior pulled up from the top of the key and buried a three to push the lead to five, 74-69, moving the game out of reach from a Greyhound comeback.
Sophomore Paulius Zalys was efficient in his 24 minutes of action, leading Lafayette in scoring with a season-high 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. Junior Eric Stafford posted 15 points, while classmate Matt Klinewski added 13 to round out the double-figure scorers.
The offense was run brilliantly for the majority of the night as the Leopards went 28-for-50 from the floor (56.0%). They connected on just four of 13 attempts from beyond the arc, but made up for that with an 18-for-20 mark (90.0%) from the foul line.
The Leopards started strong defensively, but hit just one of their opening five shots, trailing by a 7-2 score into the first timeout. Things continued to be a struggle offensively, but a post bucket from freshman Myles Cherry made it 13-6 in favor of Loyola at the 11:46 mark.
Lafayette began to settle in through the midway point of the half as a drive and floater from Zalys made it 22-15 with 8:05 on the clock. Then, the Leopards made their move as freshman Hunter Janacek’s beautiful reverse lay-up ignited a 6-0 spurt that brought the lead to just three, 24-21 with 6:12 to go in the half.
That momentum continued through the three-minute mark as eight straight, including triples from Janacek and Lindner, gave Lafayette its first lead of the game, up 29-25. The Leopards continued to roll through to the intermission as Zalys gave Lafayette six of its final eight points in the last two minutes to push the edge to 10 at the break, 39-29.
Lafayette didn’t let the halftime break kill momentum as a strong post bucket from Klinewski extended the edge to 15 at 47-32 with 15:42 to play. The Leopards kept their lead in double-digits through the next four-minute stretch, but an Andre Walker three made it a 10-point game at 53-43 with 11:18 remaining.
Cherry’s lay-up off a dish from Klinewski pushed the edge back to 12, but a Matt Staubi three moved it into single digits at 9:38, 55-46. Lafayette staved off runs over the next few minutes, but an Andrew Kostecka lay-up at 4:10 brought the Hounds to within five and the Leopard lead was seven into the final media timeout, 64-57.
A big three from Zalys pushed the lead back out to 10 at 67-57, but James Fives came right back at the 1:25 mark with a three of his own to cut it to 71-66. Jarred Jones’ steal and dunk made it a one-possession game late until Lindner’s triple iced it.
Lafayette returns to Kirby Sports Center on Thursday for a matchup with Army. Tipoff against the Black Knights is scheduled for 7 p.
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